1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle, and in particular, to a vehicle with improved mountability of large-sized accessories such as a fuel tank.
2. Description of Background Art
An arrangement is known in which a large-sized accessory, such as a fuel tank, is disposed below a rear pipe that supports a seat on which an occupant sits. See, for example, FIGS. 3 and 7 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-248953.
Referring to FIG. 7 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-248953, which is a perspective view showing a vehicle body frame, left and right upper portion frame pipes (19) (parenthetic numbers indicate numerals given in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-248953; the same holds true hereinafter) extend longitudinally along a vehicle body and have a rear portion supported by an oblique rear portion support pipe (24).
Referring to FIG. 3 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-248953, the rear portions of the upper portion frame pipes (19) are referred to as a rear pipe that supports a seat (6). A fuel tank (81) is disposed downwardly of the rear pipe. An oblique member shown downwardly of the fuel tank (81) is the rear portion support pipe (24) shown in FIG. 7.
The fuel tank (81) is disposed in a space between the rear pipe and the rear portion support pipe (24), which achieves efficient space utilization.
The fuel tank (81) is mounted in a direction equivalent to a front-and-back direction of FIG. 3, so that the fuel tank (81) has a height that is smaller than a distance between a lower surface of the rear pipe and an upper surface of the rear portion support pipe (24).
The foregoing structure makes it necessary to lower the rear portion support pipe (24), if there is a need for increasing the size of the fuel tank (81). Because of vehicle structural reasons, however, it is not unlikely that the rear portion support pipe (24) cannot be lowered.
A need therefore exists for a structure that allows a large fuel tank much greater than the distance between the lower surface of the rear pipe and the upper surface of the rear portion support pipe (24) to be mounted without having to lower the rear portion support pipe (24). Though the fuel tank has been used as an example in the foregoing descriptions, any other accessory may be mounted.